


The Mafia: Hogwarts Edition

by Mirgaxus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Town of Salem (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Humor, M/M, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Party Games, Pre-Slash, Suspicions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-25 16:32:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9829715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirgaxus/pseuds/Mirgaxus
Summary: A lighthearted silly fic in tribute of all those long, silly H/Ds I enjoyed reading as a teenager.Aka the one where Seamus introduces the eight years for the magical version of the Town of Salem, and Harry is pining after Draco.





	1. And so it started

**Author's Note:**

> I've been absolutely obsessed with Town of Salem and similar games for the last couple of months, both playing and watching let's plays way too much, and as such I have itched to write a Harry Potter/ Town of Salem sort-of-crossover... and here it is!
> 
> Some notes before you start to read, or to answer some concerns/questions you may have:
> 
> 1\. You don't need to know anything about Town of Salem or its rules to enjoy this fic. If anything you read in these notes looks like gibberish to you right now, don't worry – all you need to know about the game that is being played in the fic will be explained in the actual fic, as characters are just as new to the game as you may be, and playing for the first time :)
> 
> 2\. The game in the fic will follow the current rules of Town of Salem, version 1.5.10. Role list will be, for this fic, "Classic Mode" (you can find it at the end notes of Chapter I with short descriptions of each role). You may check out in advance what each role does in more detail from Blank Media Games' website - decision is yours! If you want to guess between chapters who is what role and what is happening behind the scenes, it could help, but my intention is to write the fic in a way that will be enjoyable for those too who have never played the game.
> 
> 3\. Theorizing in comments about what is going on, who is bullshitting and who is what role is not only allowed, but highly encouraged! :) I'd love to hear your guesses and thoughts! In true Town of Salem spirit no roles will be revealed until the person dies - not even Harry's! That means that Chapter 2 will include Day 1 of the game, then Chapter 3 Day 2 etc. and only once the game has ended I will post an "Epilogy" chapter which includes all the night chats (Mafia chat, Medium's chat, Jailor chat) and decisions each character did during the game.
> 
> 4\. ALL THE ROLES IN THE FIC'S GAME ARE COMPLETELY RANDOM. I used a list randomizer online to randomize roles for characters. I didn't pick anything myself, like Executioner's target, nor what role "Town Killing" or "Random Town" would be – all were randomized from the possible options. I have the lists ready here with me, and oh boys can I say that this looks interesting!
> 
> 5\. HOWEVER, ANY ACTIONS THE CHARACTERS TAKE IN THE GAME ARE NOT RANDOMIZED. When you see who has been killed during the night or who has not been killed, you can bet that I wrote the things that happened during the night based on how I thought the characters ICly (or as IC as they are in this silly little fic) would decide in such a situation. In example, let's say Ron Weasley was a Doctor (can save one person each night from being killed, if they are attacked). We can all agree that it would be much more likely for them to save Hermione or Harry than Draco Malfoy, right? :)
> 
> 6\. I hope you enjoy reading the fic, and please let me know if you like it! This is rather different from what I have been writing so far. I am myself very excited about the topic (as my 100+ hours clocked on the ToS and some more in EpicMafia can prove...) and already visioning this to be only the first game of many if the "niche" finds interested readers, so any feedback would be lovely, on what you find working and what not :) Especially tell me if something is confusing you about the game or how it's explained in the fic, since I may be blind to how confusing it can be for someone who has not played the Mafia game before!

"I think we should play 'Mafia'", said Seamus, as the yet another Friday evening in the combined common room of eight year Slytherins and Gryffindors was dragging quietly and boringly on. Almost all the students looked up at his suggestion, wherever they were sitting around the cozy little room.

"What's that?" asked Lavender with interest.

"I think I have heard of it", said Blaise lazily from the coach, "Isn't it that party game, where you lynch all the people you dislike?"

"Umm, no, but close", said Seamus. "It's a party game, though, and there is lynching involved. And murders. And everyone slowly losing their mind and turning paranoid." He cackled and everyone else looked at him like he had already lost his mind.

"Is that supposed to sound fun?" asked Hermione wrinkling her nose. "I would think we have had enough murders for a lifetime, all of us."

Harry, who was sitting with her and Ron by the fire place, silently agreed with her. Slowly losing their mind? Turning paranoid? Weren't they already doing that, with these enforced living and sleeping arrangements after they had all come back for Hogwarts for their last year.

Even though, Harry had to admit, the slowly losing their mind was mostly because of how boring it was to actually just to be a regular student once again after the war. _And maybe, sometimes_ , he thought as he watched Draco stepping through the portrait hole and stopping to listen to discussion, _sometimes the 'losing his mind' was for other reasons_ _too_. He quickly averted his eyes.

"If it's a party game about murders, it could be cathartic", insisted Daphne. "You know, I have read about it, how trauma patients are supposed to face their trauma in safe environments and that way get over it."

Hermione shook her head. "I have read some opposing evidence to that, indicating that it does not help them get over it, but actually enforces the fear and-"

Seamus coughed loudly and interrupted the girls. "Well, this doesn't involve any actual murders, or even blood - that much - or bodies - so we can leave theorizing and revolutionary new medical solutions for Ravenclaws and get to the important part, right?"

"Which is..?" asked Hermione skeptically.

"That we are all bored out of our minds and I have a solution for it!" Seamus said cheerfully and leaped out of his chair to run to his room, which he shared with Dean and Neville. A few moments later he returned, with a big box in his hands and a wide grin in his face. He dropped the box on the table in the middle of the room and everyone scooped a little closer. Harry saw how even Draco, whose expression of feigned indifference didn't fool him for a second, got closer and tried to get a good look at the box over Parvati and Lavender, who were sitting together on one of the coaches.

"It's simple really", Seamus started to explain excitedly, "each one of us gets a secret role, which has its own secret powers. Few of us will be mafia, which means bad guys. Then there can also be other bad killing roles, who are not sided with mafia, and neutrals, who are not mafia or townies and who have all kinds of different winning conditions. Then the rest, the majority, are townies, good peoples. If mafia kills all the good people as well as all the neutrals that cannot win with them, then the mafia wins. If all the mafia roles are killed as well as all the neutrals that can kill, then the town wins. You still with me?"

Most of the people around Harry looked simply confused, but Hermione and Theodore were nodding, and that seemed to be enough for Seamus who continued his excited explanation.

"This box works a little bit like a pensieve. We will enter it, and it twists time and space so that the game really lasts only about half the time of how it _feels_ like it's lasting."

"How does it-" Hermione started to ask, looking intrigued, but Seamus raised his hand and shook his head.

"I don't know, and you can owl tomorrow the company that has made this, if you are still interested, okay?" he said and everyone except Hermione was nodding their heads.

Hermione sighed. "Fine."

"The game will be split in nights and days. During the day, which lasts half an hour, we can see each others and talk freely. During the last ten minutes we may vote. If I wanted to vote for Harry, I would raise my wand and say 'I vote for Harry Potter!'. If more than half of the alive players are voting for Harry before the day ends, then Harry would go up for a trial. During the trial he has a chance to speak his defense, then we all vote if we think he is guilty or innocent, and his fate depends on if more people vote for his innocence than who are voting for him being guilty."

"And what happens if we think Harry is guilty?" asked Lavender with wide eyes.

"Then we... lynch him", grinned Seamus like a madman.

"Sounds like a nice game", said Draco and smirked at Harry, who just snorted.

"You think I would be voted up for a lynch?" he asked and raised his eyebrow challengingly at him.

Draco looked around and frowned.

"We don't really lynch him though, right?" asked Ron.

"Of course not!" said Seamus and laughed. "It's a party game, and it would rather kill the mood if someone actually died. No, they will just get out of the game back to this living room. They may still continue to watch the game, and if there is a special role called 'Medium' they may talk with them during the night. Also, those still alive in the game will use their special powers during the night time, which lasts roughly ten minutes, and the players of course won't see what others choose to do. When the next morning comes, we see if anyone died, and then it just repeats over and over until one side wins."

"Well, it does sound interesting, I am in", said Parvati and then looked at Lavender, who agreed to join too.

Dean shrugged. "Sure."

"I've heard of this and I have always wanted to try it", said Neville.

Harry and Ron looked at each others. Well, it did sound better than sitting around and doing homework for yet another evening... "Yeah, why not", Harry said. Hermione sighed and nodded too.

"This does sound interesting", said Pansy, "but I am in only if the rest of the Slytherins are in too. I'm not interested in the game of 'Let's lynch all Slytherins, they are evil always'." She snorted.

Blaise shrugged, which Harry wasn't sure meant yes or no, but Seamus seemed to take that as a yes. Daphne, Blaise, Goyle and Millicent agreed too.

Then there was only one left who hadn't confirmed yet and they all turned to look at Draco.

Draco looked like he had bit a lemon as he said, "I will be in on _one condition_. I won't be the first person lynched in this game."

"Well, the roles will be all random, so it would be stupid to lynch you just-"

"It's my condition. Take it or leave it", Draco snapped and turned to leave the room.

"We won't lynch you", Harry said quickly and earned an annoyed look from Ron.

Draco turned around and looked coldly at Harry, then at others.

"As first person, anyway", Harry added and winked at Draco to show he was joking. Then he looked around sternly. "Right, guys?"

"Right", Hermione said kindly. "It's a party game and meant to be fun and relaxed, not to start any drama here."

Seamus had a sudden coughing fit, but when he got over it, he smiled at them all widely and clapped his hands. "Well! Now that we have everyone in, let's get started! Everyone, tap the box with your wand, and it will give you your roles as we start..."

And so started the first game of Mafia ever played in Hogwarts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLAYER LIST:
> 
> 1\. Millicent Bullstrode
> 
> 2\. Hermione Granger
> 
> 3\. Seamus Finnigan
> 
> 4\. Harry Potter
> 
> 5\. Theodore Nott
> 
> 6\. Blaise Zabini
> 
> 7\. Dean Thomas
> 
> 8\. Pansy Parkinson
> 
> 9\. Draco Malfoy
> 
> 10\. Lavender Brown
> 
> 11\. Gregory Goyle
> 
> 12\. Ron Weasley
> 
> 13\. Daphne Greengrass
> 
> 14\. Neville Longbottom
> 
> 15\. Parvati Patil
> 
> ROLE LIST:
> 
> *Town roles:*
> 
> Sheriff - Check one person each night for suspicious activity.
> 
> Doctor - Heal one person each night, preventing them from dying.
> 
> Investigator - Investigate one person each night for a clue to their role.
> 
> Jailor - You may choose one person during the day to jail for the night.
> 
> Medium - Speak with all dead people at night.
> 
> Escort - Distract someone each night.
> 
> Lookout - Watch one person at night to see who visits
> 
> Town Killing - Veteran or Vigilante. Veteran: Decide if you will go on alert and kill anyone who visits you. Vigilante: Choose to take justice into your own hands and shoot someone.
> 
> Random Town - Any town role. (Some few roles are Unique and there may only be one, like Jailor, Mayor, Veteran or Retributionist.)
> 
> *Mafia roles:*
> 
> Godfather - Kill someone each night.
> 
> Framer - Choose one person to frame each night.
> 
> Mafioso - Carry out the Godfather's orders.
> 
> *Neutral roles:*
> 
> Executioner - Trick the Town into lynching your target.
> 
> Serial Killer - Kill someone each night.
> 
> Jester - Trick the Town into voting against you.


	2. We've got this!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 1. Roles have been dealt, no lynching yet on first day.

As the fog lifted and the paper in his hands vanished, Harry looked around the town square they were all in. In the middle of the square, there was an empty raised platform and next to it was a table with a very large book and even larger stack of papers. Otherwise, the square was empty and when Harry tried to look at the houses and roads around it, he couldn't really focus his eyes on anything and after few tries it was giving him such a headache that he gave up and instead looked around at other students.

 

Ron was looking smug, clearly happy with his role. Parvati had shrieked happily and ran over to Lavender and the two of them were already frantically whispering to each other.

 

"Are you two mafia then?" Pansy asked the girls with raised eyebrows. "How else would you two already know you are on the same side?"

 

Hermione sighed impatiently and answered before the girls could. "They probably _d_ _o_ _n't know_ each others' side, but couldn't help sharing their roles. Even though it could mean feeding mafia the information, if one of you was on the bad side." She noticed how Ron was standing awkwardly next to her and she glared at him. "No, Ron, don't tell me your role! That's not how this is supposed to be played, didn't you listen at all to Seamus' instructions?"

 

"But it's so good", whined Ron.

 

"That's already giving too much information away! Everyone is listening and watching!" Hermione said with exasperation.

 

Seamus clapped his hands together. "Right! Listen to me guys!" As people stopped their bickering, he continued. "We don't have that much time, so I'll just say the necessary things. We are now on the day one, and you have all got your roles and know what's your goal in the game, right? If you need to check the role list or what other roles do, all you need to know is in the Conduct." He pointed at a book on the table next to the platform.

 

There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at the tome.

 

"Do you expect us to _read_ that?" Pansy asked astonished. "We'll be here for the whole weekend, if so."

 

Hermione rushed to the table and opened the book. As others looked at a thick tome with exasperation, Seamus shook his head.

 

"Nah. But you can check things there, if something confuses you, you know? Or you can ask me, but of course I might die next night, so..."

 

"New rule", Lavender said, "nobody kills Seamus or we are all screwed!"

 

People laughed and Seamus looked amused. "Oh, I am so happy I wasn't a Jester for this round then", he chuckled and added to clear confusion from few faces, "The one who wins if they get lynched."

 

 

"Wait, Hermione was just yelling at me and Parvati for telling our roles. I thought we are not supposed to say yet what we are or what we are not?" said Lavender.

 

Seamus shrugged. "All I have said is that I claim I am not a Jester. Of course, I could easily be joking."

 

"Whatever. What are we going to do today, then? When can we start to vote people up?" said Lavender.

 

"Actually, today is the day one and we won't lynch anyone - don't look so disappointed, guys - we may just talk for a little and then the first night starts. Tomorrow morning we will see who have died during the night, and also our investigating roles have had their first results, so the game really begins and we may lynch someone."

 

Seamus looked up at the sky, and Harry followed his gaze, only now noticing that there was a big clock where the sun should have been. It had only one arm, and it was pointing a minute or two to midnight.

 

"Our time is actually up pretty soon, but I think we have covered over everything important-"

 

"No! You haven't!" said Hermione loudly. "Everyone, come here and pick some papers for yourselves and a pen."

 

"Oh, good call, Hermione, I had almost forgotten."

 

As people gathered around the table to pick their papers, Hermione said, with the Conduct open in her hands, "These will be your notes. Pick at least three papers, and on top of one write 'My Will' and top of the second 'My Deathnote'."

 

As people did as she said, she continued: "If you die, by any means, your will be the one that the rest of the players can then pick up and read. So put anything you have found out on it, unless you want to take your information with you to the grave. The other note is the one that will appear on your victim's body if you kill someone during the night. Keep the third one, the one without any title, for your own notes."

 

"Did you say _victim's body_?" Neville asked with a squek.

 

"It's a replica of their body", Seamus hurried to say. "The real victim is, by that time, already safely out of the box and outside the game."

 

Hermione nodded, and then beamed at everyone as people had finished with their notes. "I think we've got this, because I have faith in you and that you all will play smartly. I read through the role list, and it looks rather simple and I believe that we will be able to figure out the bads from townies in no time."

 

"Yeah, let's just all listen to Hermione and we'll catch the mafia in no time", Ron said and smiled at his girlfriend.

 

"Second rule, nobody kills Hermione either?" Parvati said and there was some laughter and agreeing murmuring.

 

Draco though, Harry noticed, was frowning. "Isn't it too early to put our trust on someone who could easily be a mafia? Besides, we don't need her to tell us what to do. She might be the only Gryffindor with brains, but it's us Slytherins all of you should be looking to for a strategy to win."

 

"Yeah, because you guys are known to win everything you try", Ron said with an eyeroll and Draco glared at him angrily, his pale face flushing a little.

 

"Draco does have a point!" Pansy said. "This is a game of deception, and we have grown up dealing with these kind of mind games. In the world where you never know who to really trust." She looked gloomily at other Slytherins, who, Harry realized, had been very quiet so far, observing with sharp eyes everyone.

 

Harry noticed his fellow Gryffindors looking around, at each others, unnerved. It was one thing to face the evil as one group, together, with friends beside you. It was one thing to realize that this time, here, they'd need to first find who was evil among them and who to trust, before they'd have a chance to win.

 

"I see that you guys are already starting to get the hang of this game", said Seamus happily.

 

"I still hope you don't die", said Ron to Hermione. "I am man enough to admit that we'd be lost without you." He laughed nervously.

 

Hermione opened her mouth to reply when the loud gong startled them all, and the fog started to form around them again.

 

"Good luck and have fun everyone!" Seamus shouted, and that was the last thing that Harry heard before the darkness engulfed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLAYER LIST  
> [Dead players in brackets]  
> 1\. Millicent Bullstrode  
> 2\. Hermione Granger  
> 3\. Seamus Finnigan  
> 4\. Harry Potter  
> 5\. Theodore Nott  
> 6\. Blaise Zabini  
> 7\. Dean Thomas  
> 8\. Pansy Parkinson  
> 9\. Draco Malfoy  
> 10\. Lavender Brown  
> 11\. Gregory Goyle  
> 12\. Ron Weasley  
> 13\. Daphne Greengrass  
> 14\. Neville Longbottom  
> 15\. Parvati Patil
> 
> ROLE LIST
> 
> *Town roles:*  
> Sheriff  
> Doctor  
> Investigator  
> Jailor  
> Medium  
> Escort  
> Lookout  
> Town Killing  
> Random Town
> 
> *Mafia roles:*  
> Godfather  
> Framer  
> Mafioso
> 
> *Neutral roles:*  
> Executioner  
> Serial Killer  
> Jester


	3. She was what?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 2. Hermione Granger has been killed, Ron has to face hard facts and someone gets lynched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's only Day 2, and I am already little uncertain of few things! Oh boys. Well, I'll go by what wiki says on this topic: "Your jailed target will be immune to all attacks and visits by a Transporter, Vampire Hunter, Vigilante, Blackmailer, Mafia Killing, Vampire, Witch and Neutral Killing role." As such, in this game, if someone is in jail, Investigators, Sheriffs etc (anything not mentioned in the quote) may still check them like normally and get results normally. I can't say with 100% certainty if the case was like this in the actual game, which is little embarrassing, but it's now so here.

The first thing that Harry heard as he opened eyes was Ron yelling: "No! Hermione!"

Harry looked around, shocked and ran to Hermione's fake body - which looked too real for his tastes, his insides twisted uncomfortably when he looked at her pale face and the bloody spot on her robes - and kneeled down beside Ron, who looked horrified.

"I said we'd be lost without her, and they killed her", Ron said to Harry quietly.

Other players were gathering around them. It seemed that everyone else was still 'alive'.

"You said that there wouldn't be blood", Daphne said to Seamus, and was looking anywhere else but at Hermione. Her face was pale and she looked like she'd throw up soon.

"You should be able to handle it, if you plan to become a Healer", Pansy said accusingly.

"Right", Seamus said, looking little shaken himself too. "It does look a bit real, doesn't it?", he murmured, then took a deep breath. "Right. Let's see what her notes and role card say."

Harry picked up two notes, that were lying on Hermione's chest. He gave them to Seamus.

"Right then, listen up", Seamus said and started to read.

"'My Will: For my friends: Be ready to claim a role! They will accuse you, and you will need to be ready to defend. Confuse them! Good luck!"

Seamus looked up from the note, lips twitching. "Interesting."

Many Gryffindors looked indeed already confused, even more so when Draco Malfoy started to laugh, and Theodore Nott started to chuckle.

Draco looked at their faces and his laughter got even louder. "There goes your saviour! 'We'll be lost without her'! Does that sound like something an innocent woman would write? And the freaking prick of the Jailor was so convinced that I was the bad guy here."

Ron looked uneasily at Harry. Harry gulped and looked down at Hermione's body. He hadn't expected either of his friends to die so soon, and even though he knew it was just a game, he couldn't help it that it still affected him.

Seamus continued. "And then the deathnote." He looked it over and raised an eyebrow. "Which, creatively, says only: 'Eat shit.'"

"What?!" Ron shouted angrily.

"I would have thought we are above being first years", Parvati said haughtily and looked at Slytherins.

"But I thought she was mafia?" Neville said bewildered. "Who killed her then?"

"Let's see what her role card says", said Seamus and picked up the card, similar to what they all had got when they had first started to play. "'Hermione Granger - Mafioso. Died Night 1. She was stabbed by a Serial Killer. She was also killed by a Veteran.'"

Neville looked bewildered. "Wait, what? Two people killed her? How is that possible?"

"Hermione visited the Veteran, who was on alert and ready to kill anyone who was going to visit them", Theodore said. "And then Serial Killer also visited her and killed her."

"Yeah, sounds about right", said Seamus.

"So... if only one person visited her last night, that means that that person would be a Serial Killer?" Neville asked.

"Yes", said Seamus and grinned at Neville. "Did you by any chance see something?"

Neville nodded and turned to point at Gregory Goyle. "You were the only one who visited her last night!"

"How do you know that?" asked Lavender with wide eyes, taking few steps away from Greg, who looked at Neville gloomily.

"I'm the Lookout! I was watching who would visit Hermione, because I knew that she would be likely to be killed. And I got you, Goyle."

Ron and Harry, along the rest of the Gryffindors, grinned at Neville proudly. "Well done, mate!" said Ron.

"I didn't kill her", said Goyle.

"He didn't", said Millicent suddenly. "It was Pansy. I'm the real lookout, and saw her visiting Granger."

"You are lying, Millie, and poorly", said Pansy haughtily. "I didn't kill anyone last night, and I certainly didn't visit Granger."

"Greg, Pansy, what are your roles then?" asked Draco, starting to look like he was enjoying the game.

Pansy looked at Draco calculatingly. "Don't you think it's little early to tell? We still have three enemies left."

Draco shrugged. "And we'll never find them, if we don't share some of our information. Although I don't have any, since our Jailor is a prat who kept me from doing anything and told me he was going to keep me behind the bars the whole game." He looked accusingly at Ron, who couldn't help but smirk.

Harry frowned. "Ron..."

"It's not like you'd help us win anyway. You'd probably make us lose on purpose, you asshole!"

"I told you my role", Draco hissed angrily at Ron and then pointed at Hermione's body. "Your dear girlfriend is the one who was going to make you lose on purpose. You are supposed to find mafia, not bring your grudges into the game."

"And she didn't!?" Ron shouted and pointed at Pansy, who shouted back at him, "What?! It wasn't me, it was Greg!"

"Whatever, one of you did it, and did it because you didn't want her in the game", he muttered.

"I think the Serial Killer killed her, because they thought she'd be a threat", Theodore said calmly. "And that's actually a compliment, don't you think?"

Ron looked like he didn't know how to take and then just glared at Theodore. "Was that how you decided to kill her?"

Theodore looked at him amused. "Don't be ridiculous, it's clearly Greg or Pansy who stabbed her, since it's unlikely that Longbottom and Millicent are both lying. I did kill her, though, but it was her own fault for visiting me." He shrugged. "Not that she would have known not to, of course, and I admit that I took a risk. But luckily nobody else visited me last night."

"Theodore! I almost visited you last night", Pansy said with exasperation. "You almost killed me."

"Good you didn't visit me then", Theodore just said, smiling mildly.

"So, Nott is a Veteran?" Dean asked. "This is so confusing. Can't we just lynch either Neville - sorry, mate - or Millicent and then we'll see which one was lying?"

"That doesn't make any sense", Parvati said. "We should kill either Goyle or Parkinson. That way, if we hit the right one, we get rid of the Serial Killer!"

"Neither of you have still told your roles", Theodore said. "I think it would make the decision easier."

Pansy snorted. "Fine. I'm an investigator, and I investigated Draco last night." Draco looked at her with raised eyebrow and she shrugged. "I wanted to know if I could trust you, but all I learned was what I already knew: ' _Your target may not be what they seem_ ' was the helpful tip from the game. Very, very useful indeed."

Seamus chuckled. "Ah, that means that Draco is either a Vampire, a Jester or a Framer. Investigative results are never really exact, but they narrow it down to three possibilities."

"That's not what you told me!" Ron said and looked at Draco triumphantly.

"Oooh, a Vampire?" Lavender shrieked. "Are there Vampires?"

Seamus coughed. "No, not in this game, there can't be any with this role list. Also, Ron, Pansy, sorry to tell you, but that result itself could also be false. The Mafia has a Framer in this game, and anyone they frame will appear that night for Sheriffs as 'suspicious' and for Investigators with those options - as a Vampire, Framer or Jester."

Pansy sighed. "Ah well. And since Draco is an obvious choice to be framed by almost anyone..."

Ron looked disappointed. "So you all are saying that Malfoy is a good guy? Ugh, that sounds so weird..."

"Well, he could still be a Framer or a Jester. Nothing is certain, that's what I am saying", Seamus shrugged.

Blaise chuckled. "Poor Draco. You had an eventful night, didn't you?"

The gong startled them again.

"Right! We have ten minutes left, and we need to vote someone up if we want to lynch anyone today."

Theodore raised his wand and said loudly. "'I vote for Gregory Goyle'. I believe Pansy, she wouldn't know how the Investigator worked unless she really was one."

Draco nodded and raised his wand as well and said as well, "'I vote for Gregory Goyle.'"

"'I vote for Gregory Goyle'", said Neville as well.

"'I vote for Pansy Parkinson'", said Millicent stubbornly and looked at them all darkly. "Didn't you guys listen to what Granger's will said? 'Be ready to claim a role and confuse them'? Pansy is doing that, right now."

Theodore frowned. "That is true, but I don't feel like she is lying... She is not that good with it."

"Thanks, Theodore", Pansy said and rolled his eyes. "I appreaciate your vote of confidence, really. 'I vote for Gregory Goyle'."

"What's your role, Goyle, you still haven't said it?" asked Harry.

Goyle looked at him and grunted: "Investigator. Pansy is mafia."

"Hah!" Pansy snorted. "Copy cat. Vote him up, people, he is clearly bad."

"'I vote for Gregory Goyle'", Ron said and grinned. "That was weak, man."

Harry added his vote too for Greg. Then Lavender and Parvati added their votes after some whispering, and the gong ran again, and Greg disappeared and appeared again on the platform with a quiet pop.

"Whatever", said Greg gloomily. "This game is stupid."

Harry grinned, and the voting went quickly - everyone else but Millicent voted guilty on him, and so Greg was doomed to be lynched. The lynching happened with much less dramatical than Hermione's death - one second Greg was there, the second he wasn't and only a few notes were left behind.

Seamus went to pick them up and read them aloud again. "'Gregory Goyle - Serial Killer'", he started and had to take a break when people cheered up and congratulated Neville, and Pansy for missing a mislynch. "And his will says: 'Eat shit you shitheads.' Charming guy."

Blaise snorted. "We should have known it the moment Granger's deathnote was read."

Dean, who, as Harry realized, had been quiet until now, sighed: "This is going too perfectly for the town."

And the gong ran again, and the now familiar fog spread around them, blinding them from the new secrets the next night would bring along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLAYER LIST  
> [Dead players and the time of their death in brackets]  
> 1\. Millicent Bullstrode  
> 2\. [Hermione Granger - Mafioso, Night 1]  
> 3\. Seamus Finnigan  
> 4\. Harry Potter  
> 5\. Theodore Nott  
> 6\. Blaise Zabini  
> 7\. Dean Thomas  
> 8\. Pansy Parkinson  
> 9\. Draco Malfoy  
> 10\. Lavender Brown  
> 11\. [Gregory Goyle - Serial Killer, Day 2]  
> 12\. Ron Weasley  
> 13\. Daphne Greengrass  
> 14\. Neville Longbottom  
> 15\. Parvati Patil
> 
> ROLE LIST
> 
> *Town roles:*  
> Sheriff  
> Doctor  
> Investigator  
> Jailor  
> Medium  
> Escort  
> Lookout  
> Town Killing  
> Random Town
> 
> *Mafia roles:*  
> Godfather  
> Framer  
> [Mafioso - Hermione Granger]
> 
> *Neutral roles:*  
> Executioner  
> [Serial Killer - Gregory Goyle]  
> Jester


	4. What happened last night?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 3. The town wakes up to find out that nobody died the last night. Theories run wild as players try to figure out the last two members of the mafia.

As third day dawned and the remaining thirteen opened their eyes, there was a silent moment as everyone looked around, counting the players, verifying it: nobody had died the last night.

 

"What happened?" asked Neville.

 

"Mafia lost their Mafioso. Maybe they can't kill anymore?" said Pansy.

 

"No, once the Mafioso dies, then Godfather does the killing", said Seamus. "So something must have happened last night that either saved the victim or prevented the Godfather from killing."

 

"Ron saved me", Harry said and smiled at his friend. "He jailed me last night, and the mafia tried to attack me, but they couldn't kill me. Thanks mate."

 

"Woah", said Ron and grinned. "That's awesome!"

 

"Wait a second", said Pansy frowning. "Why did you jail _Harry_? You should have jailed Millicent or Thomas, they were both behaving very suspiciously yesterday!"

 

"I wanted to talk with Harry and ask what his role was", said Ron defensively. "And see, it was clearly the right decision, if it _saved his life!_  I would have lost both of my best friends now if I hadn't done it!"

 

"You could have whispered with him today and asked his role that way", said Theodore. "But well, good random call, I guess."

 

"I think I have this figured out", interrupted Draco suddenly, looking rather smug. "Millicent is clearly an Executioner who tries to get Pansy killed. Dean, I think is a Jester, based on that odd comment yesterday - why mafia would say so and make themselves a target? So that leaves us with two mafia still. But anyone remember the first day?"

 

"When we just got here, you mean?" Harry asked. "Yeah, barely, since it hasn't been even an hour since we started, you know."

 

Draco ignored his sarcasm and continued: "Do you remember how those two-", pointed at Lavender and Parvati, "were all over each other the moment the game began and have been whispering since the start? And how someone asked if they were in the mafia together?"

 

"I did", said Pansy and looked at two Gryffindor girls, frowning.

 

"Yeah. And then, who else than Granger herself came to their defense instantly? Saying that _obviously_ they were nothing but friends who just wanted to share their roles with each other? Now that we know that Granger was actually part of the mafia herself, doesn't that strike you a little bit suspicious?"

 

"I'm _not_ part of the mafia!" Lavender said with indignation. "I'm the sheriff, and Parvati is a Doctor - that Healer role with weird name - and has been healing me from the start. And last night I found out that Millicent is a member of the mafia!"

 

"Millicent is _not_ mafia. I don't believe she would be drawing that much attention to herself if she was", said Draco impatiently. "And you didn't say who you checked the first night. Also, real Sheriff and Doctor, do not come out just yet - I think they are trying to draw you out."

 

"I checked Parvati, to make sure she was really good!"

 

Parvati looked at her friend shocked. "You didn't believe me when I told you I was a Doctor? I believed you and I have been healing you every night!"

 

"I'm sorry", said Lavender.

 

"How convenient", said Draco.

 

"You have been whispering a lot", said Pansy. "It has been rather suspicious."

 

"We have been whispering, because we are friends!", wailed Lavender.

 

"Um, I have a quick question, Seamus", said Daphne. "It's about my role and something that happened last night."

 

"Eh, okay, though you do know you can just check the Conduct? That way you don't have to tell us your role", said Seamus.

 

Daphne looked reluctantly at a big tome, sighed and then went to read it.

 

Theodore cleared his throat. "Before we start to lynch anyone, can Pansy and Neville tell us what they found out last night?"

 

"I'm telling you, Pansy is mafia. Longbottom is probably too", muttered Millicent. "Covered her ass yesterday and got lucky with the guess that Greg was a Serial Killer. You are all doomed, if you listen to them."

 

"Millie, yesterday you said I was a Serial Killer", said Pansy exasperated. "Give it up, hun." Millicent just looked at her darkly, so Pansy turned to Theodore and continued: "I went to check Dean last night, since it was already clear that Millie was a mafia - or that Execute role, I had forgotten about that. I wanted to find the third mafia member. And I really hate my role, because I just got the same result again: blah blah he is not what he seems, he is a Vampire, a Jester or a Framer."

 

Draco was nodding. "But that makes sense. So it's very likely Dean is a bad Jester then."

 

Dean smirked and said nothing.

 

"Or he is a Framer who is pretending to be a Jester", said Harry and Draco shot him a sharp look.

 

"I guess that could be true as well", Draco conceded. "However, I believe it's more likely that it's Brown and Patil. But this is just a guess."

 

Daphne looked up from the tome. "Okay, now I understand what happened last night. Yeah, I think Draco is right!"

 

"This game was really quick, if it is so", said Theodore. "Or we are missing something. Although, it was really unlucky for mafia that they lost Granger so early. Hey Longbottom, I guess you didn't see anything last night?"

 

Neville shook his head. "No, I was on Pansy, in case the mafia wanted to get rid of the Investigator, but nobody visited her."

 

"Hmm, alright. I hope the real Doctor was on you, then. You two are our only somewhat confirmed good guys, beside me and Weasley", said Theodore and frowned. "Something doesn't add up."

 

"Maybe we should make a role call?" asked Dean, smirking still. "Everyone tell their roles! I'm the Framer!"

 

"No, Jester", spatted Draco immediately. "Let's say I am wrong, which I doubt, and we lynch wrong people today. What happens? Then mafia would know exactly who is who and they could plan their attacks better."

 

"Who should we lynch today?" asked Pansy, and looked at Lavender and Parvati, who were deep in whispers again together and shooting angry glares at the rest of them. "We could take a safe bet and lynch Millicent, and I could check one of them next night, but to be honest, I think we've got this. We can just lynch one of them and then Weasley can jail the other and we'll win."

 

Ron grinned and nodded.

 

"Sounds good to me", said Harry and shrugged. "Even though Hermione was Mafioso, she was right the first day. This is not that hard to figure out."

 

Draco looked at him and raised his eyebrow. "Oh yeah? And what insight have you added to figuring out the game? I think it's been pretty much Longbottom, Pansy and me carrying you lot the whole game."

 

"Let's first see if you are right," Ron said, just as the gong rang to notify them that the time for voting had started.

 

"'I vote for Pansy Parkinson!'" yelled Millicent immediately. "I'm not going to say this again, she is leading you all to lose!"

 

"'I vote for Lavender Brown'", said Pansy calmly and just looked little amused at Millicent's outburst.

 

"'I vote for Lavender Brown'", said Draco.

 

"'I vote for Lavender Brown'", said Harry and smiled little apologetically at girl.

 

Ron hesitated just a little, glanced at Harry, and then said: "'I vote for Lavender Brown'."

 

Lavender looked at them all and huffed. "Well, soon you will see how wrong you all are. And that you really shouldn't listen to _Slytherins_!"

 

"I wasn't going to bother with voting, but just for that 'I vote for Lavender Brown'", said Blaise with a crooked smile.

 

"'I vote for Lavender Brown'", said Theodore.

 

And as the last needed vote, seventh, was given by Neville, Lavender disappeared and appeared again on the platform.

 

"You are making a mistake", said Lavender. "But my death will prove to you at least that Parvati is a Doctor as she claims! I checked her the first night, and she was not suspicious!"

 

"Um, that wouldn't actually prove that she isn't a Godfather, as they are the only mafia role that appears also not suspicious-", said Seamus as the voting for Lavender's guilt started, and Pansy interrupted him with a cry of disbelief.

 

"How many exceptions there are in the game?! None of the roles are any good if we find only 'maybes' or 'this one is probably this, but not really'!"

 

Seamus shrugged and smiled apologetically. "Uh, many? It get's easier as you get more familiar with the game, I guess, but it's true. It's little chaotic."

 

Before Pansy could yell out her frustration, the voting was over - everyone else, but Millicent, Dean and Parvati had voted guilty on Lavender, so with nine votes against her and three votes for her, Lavender was lynched.

 

The remaining twelve players waited holding their breaths as Seamus climbed to the platform and read Lavender's role card and notes.

 

"Lavender Brown - Sheriff", started Seamus, and Parvati started to yell.

 

"And you didn't believe us! See! All who voted her up are mafia!"

 

"Most of us voted her up", said Neville quietly as he looked up at sky, where the dead players were watching the game. "Sorry, Lavender."

 

Harry was frowning, but then something clicked in his head and he walked to Ron to whisper something to him. Ron nodded slowly.

 

"We don't have much time left, let me read the will before the night starts!" Seamus said loudly. "We'll discuss her lynching tomorrow!"

 

Everyone quieted, and Seamus continued: "My Will: I'm Sheriff Brown! Parvati is a Doctor and keeps me alive while I search for the mafia, woop go go girl I love you! MILLICENT IS A MEMBER OF THE MAFIA!'".

 

"Well, we know who we will lynch tomorrow", said Neville uncertainly. "I guess?"

 

"Millie my love, don't worry, it's not over yet and we shall still win!" Dean said loudly with a smirk on his face and Millicent glared at him murdeously - "Shut up, Thomas!" -, as fog, once again, engulfed them all and the third night began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLAYER LIST  
> [Dead players and the time of their death as well as the cause of the death in brackets]  
> 1\. Millicent Bullstrode  
> 2\. [Hermione Granger - Mafioso, Night 1, killed by Serial Killer and Veteran]  
> 3\. Seamus Finnigan  
> 4\. Harry Potter  
> 5\. Theodore Nott  
> 6\. Blaise Zabini  
> 7\. Dean Thomas  
> 8\. Pansy Parkinson  
> 9\. Draco Malfoy  
> 10\. [Lavender Brown - Sheriff, Day 3, lynched]  
> 11\. [Gregory Goyle - Serial Killer, Day 2, lynched]  
> 12\. Ron Weasley  
> 13\. Daphne Greengrass  
> 14\. Neville Longbottom  
> 15\. Parvati Patil
> 
> ROLE LIST  
> [Dead in brackets]  
> *Town roles:*  
> [Sheriff - Lavender Brown]  
> Doctor  
> Investigator  
> Jailor  
> Medium  
> Escort  
> Lookout  
> Town Killing  
> Random Town
> 
> *Mafia roles:*  
> Godfather  
> Framer  
> [Mafioso - Hermione Granger]
> 
> *Neutral roles:*  
> Executioner  
> [Serial Killer - Gregory Goyle]  
> Jester


	5. Massacre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 4. The end is nearing, as the town wakes up to find a surprising amount of people dead.

The fourth morning in the same evening dawned and the players opened their eyes to a massacre.

 

Three players's bodies lay on the ground. Neville, Millicent and Dean were out of the game. Harry couldn't look at their fake remains - he knew they were not real, but his mind was filled of the images from the last battle, bodies laying in the ground... Although they had been dirtier, messier, and there hadn't been silence then, nor the bright sun shining above.

 

And none of them had been 'killed' by them.

 

This game had been a bad idea. Why hadn't they listened to Hermione? How many of them would have nightmares the next night? Harry knew he would. He had to remind himself that Neville and Dean were right now in the common room, sharing laughs with Hermione maybe. They were _alright_.

 

Still, none of the remaining nine players seemed eager to go closer to the bodies to examine them. Harry saw how even Seamus seemed hesitant. It was Ron who finally took a deep breath and walked over to the bodies.

 

"They are not real", Ron murmured, his face pale, and gathered the notes. Nobody answered him. Nobody wanted to break the silence, because it seemed wrong, it seemed like it would _disrespect the dead_...

 

"Millicent Bullstrode, the Executioner", Ron said loudly. "Executed by the jailor." Harry saw how Ron gulped, looking ill as he glanced at the body, before continuing. "Me." Nobody cheered today, even though they had got one player who was not a townie. "She didn't leave a will behind her. Neville Longbottom, the Lookout. He was killed by the Mafia. He left a will, saying: 'Told you everything I saw during the days: N1 Hermione - Goyle visited. N2 Pansy - nobody visited. N3 Ron -'." Ron clears his throat and looks up at the sky. "Thanks mate, you had my back."

 

Everyone looked at Dean's body, and Harry knew that they were probably wondering silently the same thing he was. Who had killed him, then? Not the Jailor, not the Mafia... Surely Dean hadn't gone and visited the Veteran Theodore, who they knew could kill anyone who visited them?

 

"Dean Thomas, the Jester", Ron continued. "Shot by the Vigilante."

 

This surprised everyone out of their silence.

 

"The Vigilante?" Pansy said. "What is that?"

 

"It's a Town Killing role, like Veteran." It was Daphne who answered her. "It's my role. I tried to shoot Millicent the night before, but because Executioners - like Godfathers - have a night immunity and can't be shot, she didn't die then." As people looked at her surprised, she added defensively: "I _did_ have to read about my role yesterday. I couldn't understand why my Muggle weapon - gum? - didn't work properly. But it made sense then, when Draco said that Millicent was the Executioner."

 

"But if Theodore is a Veteran, we can't have another Town Killing", Pansy said frowning.

 

"Yes, we can, if one of them is our Random Town", Ron said with a heavy voice, surprising them all with offering some input for solving the puzzle. Ron turned to look at Harry, and he couldn't do anything else than shrug apologetically.

 

"I'm sorry I lied to you", he said to Ron, who snorted.

 

"Yeah, you should be. Though, to be honest, I think I am more pissed off that both you _and_ Hermione were in the Mafia and left me out", Ron said jokingly and shook his head. "Who's the third one?"

 

"Ooh", said Pansy. "What did you claim to him, Potter?"

 

"That I was the Sheriff", Harry said. "Then Lavender was lynched and was the _actual_ Sheriff, so I hoped the Random Town wouldn't appear anytime soon." He shrugged. "Tough luck."

 

"Wait, so you were never attacked in jail", Ron said, frowning. "You couldn't attack anyone _because_ I jailed you?"

 

"Yeah", Harry said, grinning. "I'm the Godfather." His grin falters, as he continues. "I think we would have gone after Neville that night, but you stopped us from doing it. The Framer couldn't attack instead of me, so we couldn't do anything that night, really..." He glanced at Neville's fake body, before looking away quickly. "I think it's okay that we were so bad at killing people", he adds, laughing shakely. "Not our strength really."

 

He would definitely have nightmares the next night. He couldn't get the guilty small voice out of his head whenever he saw the body, saying _'It was your fault, you killed him'_.

 

"Why Neville?" asked Parvati. "He is your friend! I would have killed all the Slytherins!"

 

"He was the Lookout. He got Goyle caught so easily that it was only a matter of time when he would catch the Mafia. Although, I was actually more worried about Parkinson catching us, but well, since Neville could be watching her and who was visiting her, it made more sense to get rid of him first..."

 

"You are not smart enough to think through it like that", said Draco with suspicion. "And there are not that many players left who are not proved to be a townie, and who would be intelligent enough to plan all of that." His gaze flickered to Blaise, who just raised an eyebrow at him, and to Seamus, who grinned. "Blaise is a devious bastard and _would_ frame me the first night, and Seamus already knows the game and how to play it. Which one is the Framer?"

 

"Hey! I'm not stupid", Harry said. "I thought of that, not Zabini!"

 

Blaise looked amused as he looked at Harry. "So it's Finnigan, then."

 

"Hmm, I wonder", muttered Theodore. "Pansy, who did you check last night, by the way?"

 

"I checked Patil, I wanted to confirm that they were a Doctor. _'Your target is covered in blood'_ " - Parvati squeked and everyone looked at her and her non-bloody hands - "Which apparently means they are either a Doctor, a Serial Killer or a Disguiser. So, since we have got rid of the Serial Killer and don't have a Disguiser in the game, she must be the Doctor."

 

"So all we would have needed to do yesterday was to call out for the real Sheriff and the real Doctor to show themselves", Theodore thought aloud. "And then when nobody else would have claimed those roles, we would have known the truth. Or Potter would have been forced to out himself and claim he was the Random Town. Interesting."

 

"You were idiots to not do that", said Parvati.

 

Pansy snorted. "You didn't realize it then either, so shut your mouth."

 

Parvati glared at Pansy angrily, but didn't say anything.

 

"We should have a role call now", said Theodore decisively. "Since the Jester has died, we know that the only ones who are lying are Mafia. I'll start, even though you have known my role since the start. Veteran."

 

"Investigator", said Pansy.

 

"Doctor", said Parvati.

 

"Vigilante", said Daphne.

 

"Godfather", said Harry, grinning.

 

"Medium", said Draco.

 

"Escort", said Blaise and winked at Draco. "I didn't frame you the first night, but I did _something_."

 

"Oh Merlin", groaned Draco, looking almost fond. "I forgot I was roleblocked the first night, too. I should have known that _that_ was you."

 

"Oh Malfoy, you have played this well", said Seamus, grinning. "Because I am the real Medium."

 

The gong ran then, signaling that it was the time for the voting.

 

"'I vote for Harry Potter'!", declared Pansy, Daphne and Parvati instantly.

 

"Wait, Weasley could jail Potter next night and execute him-", Theodore said.

 

"No", said Ron, paling. "I'm sorry, not going to happen. I don't care if he was Voldemort himself born again. I am not going to execute my best mate and see his body tomorrow. 'I vote for Harry Potter'."

 

"Let's just lynch Potter now, and then Daphne can shoot Finnigan the next night, it doesn't matter which way around we do this", said Draco impatiently. "'I vote for Harry Potter'."

 

And as there were only nine players left, five votes was all it was needed for Harry to disappear and reappear on the platform.

 

"Yeah, well. It would have been a lot easier if we hadn't lost Hermione so early", Harry said. "She should have been the Godfather and not me."

 

The voting for his guilt was done quickly, and with the all eight remaining players voting against him, Harry was lynched. He smiled, not looking at anyone particularly, and as his last words just said: "Good luck, Framer." And then he felt a pulling not unlike in apparition and the sunny, unreal world around him was twisting and turning until he found himself falling on his knees on the familiar carpet in eight years' common room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be a little different to the others, maybe more along "traditionally written fanfics" as Harry is now "out of the game" and will be spectating with other dead people.
> 
> PLAYER LIST  
> [Dead players and the time of their death as well as the cause of the death in brackets]  
> 1\. [Millicent Bullstrode - Executioner, Night 3, executed by the Jailor]  
> 2\. [Hermione Granger - Mafioso, Night 1, killed by Serial Killer and Veteran]  
> 3\. Seamus Finnigan  
> 4\. [Harry Potter - Godfather, Day 4, lynched]  
> 5\. Theodore Nott  
> 6\. Blaise Zabini  
> 7\. [Dean Thomas - Jester, Night 3, shot by Vigilante]  
> 8\. Pansy Parkinson  
> 9\. Draco Malfoy  
> 10\. [Lavender Brown - Sheriff, Day 3, lynched]  
> 11\. [Gregory Goyle - Serial Killer, Day 2, lynched]  
> 12\. Ron Weasley  
> 13\. Daphne Greengrass  
> 14\. [Neville Longbottom - Lookout, Night 3, killed by Mafia]  
> 15\. Parvati Patil
> 
> ROLE LIST  
> [Dead in brackets]  
> *Town roles:*  
> [Sheriff - Lavender Brown]  
> Doctor  
> Investigator  
> Jailor  
> Medium  
> Escort  
> [Lookout - Neville Longbottom]  
> Town Killing  
> Random Town
> 
> *Mafia roles:*  
> [Godfather - Harry Potter]  
> Framer  
> [Mafioso - Hermione Granger]
> 
> *Neutral roles:*  
> [Executioner - Millicent Bullstrode]  
> [Serial Killer - Gregory Goyle]  
> [Jester - Dean Thomas]


	6. Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Night 4/Day 5. Harry is spectating the game with other 'dead'. The town learns who has been lying and who has been telling the truth.

Neville helped Harry to stand up. It was both unnerving and relieving for Harry to see Neville alive again. The boy grinned to Harry and said cheerfully: "We have been sending owls to the Daily Prophet here. There should be interesting headlines tomorrow, _'The Dark Lord Potter is rising!'_ "

 

Harry punched Neville lightly on the shoulder and turned to look at other 'dead' people in the common room. "You should write them quickly and update on the situation."

 

"Yeah. Let them change the headlines to _'The Rise and Fall of The Dark Lord Potter'_ ", Neville grinned.

 

Hermione was sitting beside the table and only threw a quick smile to Harry before turning back to observe the game. There was a rulebook in her hands which looked like a real life version of the Conduct and some parchments beside the game which seemed to have notes written by her.

 

Dean and Gregory were sitting on the other couch beside the table, unwrapping chocolate frogs. Dean waved at Harry and then turned back to Greg to continue his story, while the bigger boy listened and ate.

 

Lavender was sitting alone by the fireplace, huffing and puffing and glaring at the others while petting her new pet rabbit Chilla. It looked to Harry like others were pointedly ignoring her glares and he could only guess what kind of rant there had been after the girl had been lynched.

 

Millicent was the only 'dead person' not in sight. Harry guessed that she had been bored by watching and had left to her own room.

 

Harry walked over to Hermione and sat beside her. The top of the game box was transparent and the view looked down on the town and apparently the last moments of the fourth day. Harry could hear shrill little voices coming out of it, but couldn't make out what they were saying - or arguing about. He suddenly understood why Hermione, who was trying to still follow the game, was sitting so close to the box and almost leaning over it.

 

"I think the town won", said Harry. "I don't think our Framer can pull themself out of this."

 

Hermione glanced at him and then looked around. She seemed amused. "Oh Harry, these all know already who was our Framer. No need to hide names anymore."

 

Before Harry could say anything back, he was interrupted. "Hello my ghostly friends!" said a cheerful voice of Seamus, coming from the game box. Harry turned to look at the box and saw how the view had changed - no longer showing the little town square, but instead Seamus' face. The fourth night had begun, and Seamus, the real medium, was talking to them. "And hey Harry! I think I'm going to join you guys soon!"

 

"Hey Seamus", said Hermione. "I think everyone is going to join us soon, actually. There is no way Malfoy is going to stay alive through the night."

 

"Yeah", said Seamus and laughed. "I would pay to see Ron's face now. Bet he has wanted to jail and execute that snake from the beginning."

 

"What was the arguing about in the end?" Hermione continued, frowning. "We'll need to fix spectating for the next game. It's really hard to make out what players are discussing. It's like trying to follow a video on fast forward."

 

"Oh, they argued how to solve the 'two medium' problem. Ron and Greengrass girl both wanted to shoot Malfoy, but Nott and Parkinson demanded that one of them should kill me. And then the game would be over tomorrow morning, because no matter which one of us was the medium, the Framer would be dead too."

 

Dean had leaned closer too and spoke now: "The town doesn't have anything to worry about though, right? The Framer can't kill, so..."

 

"No. Once the Godfather and Mafioso were both dead, Malfoy was turned from Framer into a new Mafioso. There must always be at least one person in the Mafia who can do the killing", said Hermione, like she was reciting from the book. Which she likely was doing, Harry thought and glanced at the thick tome in her hands.

 

Dean shook his head. "Nobody can be expected to remember every rule of this game!"

 

"Nope!" said Seamus and grinned. "It's chaotic fun."

 

"It is not chaotic", claimed Hermione. "Once you read through every role, it becomes simple. But I have to say, this game is _heavily_ favouring the town. Unless the mafia has really good luck and the town plays really badly, there is no way the town would lose. So as fun concept as it is, I don't think it's balanced enough to be interesting for long."

 

"Oh Hermione", said Seamus. "Not all of us have your brains or analyze this like you. Also, you need to check out the Ranked rolelist. We played with Classic rolelist, because it's easier for beginners like us. But with Ranked, it gets more balanced, and with All Any list, it gets to proper _chaos_."

 

Hermione frowned and started to shuffle through the rulebook.

 

"I think the night is soon over", said Seamus. "I should be soon there-"

 

A gunshot and a flash of red light from the game box startled the people in the common room. Seamus' face had disappeared from the game box, and in the next second, both he and Draco appeared in the common room. Neither of them fell over though, Harry noticed, and he wanted to sigh at his own lack of elegance with magical transportations.

 

"What did I say!" said Seamus. He went to join Dean and Gregory on their couch and grabbed few frogs for himself too.

 

"Weasley should never, ever become an Auror", said Draco grimly. "Completely unprofessional piece of shit."

 

"Hey, it's just a game", said Harry, frowning.

 

"He was _beaming_ while he executed me", said Draco. "Unhinged sadist."

 

"Don't tell me you wouldn't have behaved the same", said Harry. "If you had been the Godfather, you would have instantly ordered me or Hermione to kill him."

 

"It was stupid _not_ to kill him the first night. He had practically announced that he had a powerful role! We could have won this if he hadn't had a chance to jail you. He prevented you from killing and got you to claim to him that you were a sheriff!"

 

Harry decided to ignore that, because he didn't have a good answer for it. He knew that he and Hermione - Draco had been in the jail then and unable to join their discussion - had never even considered killing off Ron the first night. And he didn't feel apologetic for it - Ron was their friend, and some things were more important than playing to win. Like not having their best friend sulk at them for a week. Instead, he turned to Hermione: "When will the rest come out of the game?"

 

"I think any minute now-"

 

And then there they were - the remaining six players who had still been inside the box. Pansy, Theodore, Parvati, Blaise, Ron and Daphne appeared all at the same time, around the table and couches.

 

"Yeah! We won!" Ron yelled and pointed at Draco. "I knew they all were trusting you way too easily!"

 

"No, you didn't know that", Draco sneered. "If you had known, you would have executed me ages ago. I _played_ you all."

 

"Poor little 'framed' Draco", said Pansy and seemed amused as she looked at Draco.

 

"Roleblocked, jailed and investigated the first night. It was _highly_ plausible that I could have been framed too", Draco said and smirked.

 

"I'll never, ever trust you again, darling", said Pansy.

 

"Why did you trust me in the first place?", said Draco, smirking.

 

"Hey, at least you weren't lynched at all", said Harry.

 

Pansy laughed and said: "Actually, I realised something funny during the night. More Gryffindors were lynched and killed than Slytherins. And there were more of you in the game from the beginning!"

 

"There was only one more Gryffindor than there was Slytherins", said Hermione. "Eight and seven."

 

"Which means that I shouldn't have ever been lynched!" yelled Lavender suddenly. "You had no proof against me and Parvati, and instead of trusting us you listened to _Malfoy_ of all people!"

 

Some of the Gryffindors were looking uneasily at each other. Hermione started: "Lavender, it was just a game-"

 

"Well, I won't join it again!" she said and got up to her feet. She looked at them all, clearly pissed off, and marched to her room with her big white rabbit.

 

Parvati looked at them apologetically. "She'll change her mind after she calms down." Then she rushed after her friend.

 

After an awkward pause, Neville said: "I wouldn't mind another game of this. What do think, guys?"

 

"Well, not this evening", said Pansy, "but maybe tomorrow?"

 

"Quidditch match!" half of the students said and Pansy rolled her eyes.

 

"None of you are even allowed to play in the teams anymore-", Pansy started, but then sighed. "Fine."

 

"Maybe next weekend?" asked Seamus.

 

"Good idea! That way everyone has had a chance to read through the Conduct before the next game!" said Hermione cheerfully. At the collective groan, she laughed. "I was joking. Although I do think it would make the game much more interesting if everyone knew all the rules and-"

 

"Just accept that that is not going to happen, Hermione", said Ron. "And I think we did pretty well anyway!"

 

For a while the rest of the players stayed behind, bantering and bickering over the game, but Harry sat and watched them, not joining in.

 

Before the game, the common room had been a quiet place where people had done their best to give each other room. There hadn't been any fights, surprisingly, between Slytherins and Gryffindors, which Harry assumed was because everyone had been tired of the fights and battles - but there hadn't been any nights either where most of them had been sitting together, talking excitedly and animatedly with each other.

 

Harry noticed how Draco was watching the gathering too, with bemusement and amusement.

 

As people were starting to leave, to get ready for their beds, Harry walked over to Draco, who had stolen one of Dean's frogs and was unwrapping it.

 

"Good game", said Harry.

 

Draco looked up and his lips twitched. "How was it good? We lost, Potter."

 

"Er, true. But you heard what Hermione said - it was balanced against us from the start."

 

"That's what losers say when they lose", said Draco, and now Harry was certain he was _almost_ smiling.

 

"Well. Sometimes it's not the most important thing to win", said Harry awkwardly and glanced around pointedly in the common room, where some of the last players were still laughing together.

 

"Hmm." Draco looked around the room. "If you believe that, I must make sure that we won't be on the same team next time, then."

 

"You can't trick the random luck. Or faith", said Harry jokingly.

 

Draco looked at Harry and smirked. "Watch me. I can trick everything." He looked at the game box, with a thoughtful expression on his face that Harry was not sure he liked or not. It was attractive, but also a little bit worrisome.

 

"Not planning to tamper with the next game?" asked Harry.

 

Draco looked at Harry with feigned innocence. "Of course not."

 

"Good. Because it'd be a pity if they banned you."

 

Draco snorted and, after shooting Harry a curious glance, stretched and turned towards his own room. "Such a pity. Night, Potter. It was a good game."

 

Harry looked after him, with a small smile on his face.

 

It had been an interesting evening, and Harry started to think that maybe it would only be a start of an interesting year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's finished! (Edit: Originally, I meant to post one more meta chapter including all the night chats, but I doubt I'm going to do that anymore - it has been too long since I wrote this, and my notes are now scattered all over my notebooks.)
> 
> Keeping facts straight was one of the most "hard" parts of this - fun fact, I almost screwed up in the start when I had fifteen names in the list, but somehow had got sixteen people in the game ;) I had forgot to put Neville's name down when I had been coming up with the players, so originally there was going to be Lookout Tracey and Neville sneakily hanging around in the fic without a role at all! Luckily noticed quickly that something was odd, and Tracey got booted out and Neville's name was switched to hers in lists.
> 
> Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed! Thank you for everyone who has left kudos and/or comments and/or has subscribed, you kept me motivated in finishing this! <3
> 
> And for the last time:
> 
> PLAYER LIST  
> [Dead players and the time of their death as well as the cause of the death in brackets]  
> 1\. [Millicent Bullstrode - Executioner, Night 3, executed by the Jailor]  
> 2\. [Hermione Granger - Mafioso, Night 1, killed by Serial Killer and Veteran]  
> 3\. [Seamus Finnigan - Medium, Night 4, shot by Vigilante]  
> 4\. [Harry Potter - Godfather, Day 4, lynched]  
> 5\. Theodore Nott - Veteran  
> 6\. Blaise Zabini - Escort  
> 7\. [Dean Thomas - Jester, Night 3, shot by Vigilante]  
> 8\. Pansy Parkinson - Investigator  
> 9\. [Draco Malfoy - Framer, Night 4, executed by the Jailor]  
> 10\. [Lavender Brown - Sheriff, Day 3, lynched]  
> 11\. [Gregory Goyle - Serial Killer, Day 2, lynched]  
> 12\. Ron Weasley - Jailor  
> 13\. Daphne Greengrass - Vigilante  
> 14\. [Neville Longbottom - Lookout, Night 3, killed by Mafia]  
> 15\. Parvati Patil - Doctor
> 
> ROLE LIST  
> [Dead in brackets]  
> *Town roles:*  
> [Sheriff - Lavender Brown]  
> Doctor - Parvati Patil  
> Investigator - Pansy Parkinson  
> Jailor - Ron Weasley  
> [Medium - Seamus Finnigan]  
> Escort - Blaise Zabini  
> [Lookout - Neville Longbottom]  
> Town Killing - Theodore Nott  
> Random Town - Daphne Greengrass
> 
> *Mafia roles:*  
> [Godfather - Harry Potter]  
> [Framer - Draco Malfoy]  
> [Mafioso - Hermione Granger]
> 
> *Neutral roles:*  
> [Executioner - Millicent Bullstrode]  
> [Serial Killer - Gregory Goyle]  
> [Jester - Dean Thomas]


End file.
